Woman carried dead foetus for 1-1/2 years

Hoshangabad, MP, Nov 30 (UNI) A 33-year-old impoverished tribal woman continued working while carrying a dead foetus in her abdomen, not her womb, for one-and-a-half years.

The foetus was surgically removed from Gulab Bai on November 22 at a private hospital in this district's Itarsi. The treatment was free of charge and a doctor even donated blood.

''It is miraculous that the patient did not suffer any ill effects from carrying the foetus for such a long period,'' said gynaecologist Swagata Brahmachari who performed the two-hour operation along with three other physicians. Doctors said that the patient was fine but would not be able to conceive again.

Hospital directors Anil Singh and Suneeta Singh said that sonography had revealed a ball-like structure.

Gulab, who is the wife of Betul district's forest village Dhanwar-resident Baburam, said that she earlier got herself examined at the Betul District Hospital whose doctors diagnosed the dead foetus and advised her to undergo surgery at either Bhopal or Nagpur.